


I want it that way

by ifzi0531



Category: One Direction (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 04:07:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3963778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifzi0531/pseuds/ifzi0531
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn knew that he was acting like a child, but yet, he <i>really</i> didn’t want to wear the clothes. </p><p>Niall shook his head, sighing too before he raised his arms in surrender. “Fine, wear whatever you want to, <i>Your Majesty</i>.” </p><p>or </p><p>Zayn was a solo artist and Niall was his annoying wardrobe stylist, or so he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I want it that way

**Author's Note:**

> Just because I miss Ziall, so here is one shot for them. Hope you enjoy xx :) 
> 
> p/s: this work is un-beta, and since English is not my first language, I might have made some mistakes here and there, and the lack of vocabulary etc. lol. But hey, I'm just a human who can't run from mistakes :D

Zayn was exhausted. His day was filled with interviews which had taken toll of him, especially when he had been asked the same questions over and over again. He wasn’t complaining, no, but he wasn’t happy about it either. He made a mental note to tell Louis to reschedule some of the interviews in the future so that he could get more break time in between. 

Liam had mentioned that someone was here, to be introduced to Zayn as his new wardrobe stylist and Zayn whipped his head so fast he was surprised he didn’t get a whiplash. “Who?” 

“Niall,” Liam replied simply, as if Zayn was supposed to know who the hell that was. 

Zayn followed Liam to the room nonetheless, while Liam ran down about the guy briefly. Apparently, he was someone that would replace Caroline, his current wardrobe stylist and Zayn couldn’t help but felt annoyed a little bit. Since when someone had agreed to hire another stylist? He could manage by his own just fine, Zayn thought to himself. His thought was cut short when Liam opened the door and it was when he entered the room that he first laid his eyes on the unfamiliar guy, standing in the middle of the room, with a big smile on his face. 

“Hi, I’m Niall,” the guy introduced himself and Zayn had to blink his eyes to understand the thick accent.

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

The guy who was standing in front of him smiled. “Niall James Horan, sir.” 

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Don’t call me sir, I’m not that old,” he snapped. He glared at the laugh that he got from Liam who was already sitting at the other corner of the room. 

The guy, _Niall_ , grinned happily at both of them, probably a little too overenthusiastic in Zayn’s opinion and he huffed, before he straightened up a bit and stared at Niall. 

“Look, Caroline is like my sister. That’s why I’m doing this favor for her. At least until she is ready to come back to work with me again,” Zayn started, putting a serious tone in his voice. 

Niall nodded, his big grin dropped slightly but he was still smiling at Zayn. “I know. I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I’ve been waiting for-“

Zayn waved his hand, cutting Niall off with a shake of his head. “No need to run your whole life story to me,” he said, probably a little bit rude but he didn’t care. It wasn’t exactly Caroline’s fault that she had to deliver her baby earlier than the expected due date and they hadn’t got the chance to discuss about her replacement, but Zayn despised it nonetheless. 

Zayn looked sceptically at Niall, taking his appearance at once. Niall was wearing a snapback, the end of his hair was curling out near his ears and Zayn couldn’t quite figure out the colour of his hair. It looked a little bit of mixed blond and brunette to be honest. But that was far from Zayn’s concern. The most important thing that Zayn was concerned about was the choice of outfit that Niall was wearing. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. 

Niall seemed to notice Zayn’s gaze towards his outfit and he cleared his throat, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about the plain white shirt and the dirty jeans, I mean, the ripped off jeans,” Niall said. “I was too excited after I got the phone call from Caroline about this chance so I headed straight towards here-“ 

Zayn rolled his eyes, again. In his mind, Zayn wondered why Caroline had picked Niall over other people that she must have known from her contacts. He was about to ask that question but suddenly the door of the small room was opened by none other than Lou, the hair stylist, and she barely nodded at all of them as she headed straight towards Niall. 

“Niall! Caroline told me about you!” Lou exclaimed excitedly, ruffling Niall’s hair and Niall didn’t even falter by the gesture. 

Zayn’s eyebrows raised in confusion, and he glanced towards Liam, and sighed in relief when he saw the confusion across Liam’s face too. He turned his attention towards Niall and Lou again. “What do you mean Caroline told you about him?” 

Lou stopped with her fussing over Niall’s hair, much to Niall’s amusement as Zayn could see but that wasn’t the point. He felt quite confused at the moment, and he wanted an answer and he knew Lou noticed that too. “Well, she told me that if she won’t be here after she pops out her baby, then Niall will replace her, as your wardrobe stylist.” 

Zayn shook his head. “But-,“ he trailed off. “Why wasn’t I aware of this? I mean, if it’s _my_ wardrobe that we’re talking about, doesn’t it make sense to at least, I don’t know, _asking_ me about it first?” He said, or probably whining, but he didn’t care. The thing was he cared a lot about his appearance and image and he wasn’t exactly sure how the guy with plain white shirt and ripped jeans would help to boost his image. 

Louis cleared his throat, and Zayn turned around, only to find his tour manager was leaning against the door of the room, grinning at him. “Look, Zayn. Caroline recommended him for the job, so he must be good,” he said, nodding at Niall, and Zayn had to refrain himself to roll his eyes when he saw the red tints on Niall’s cheeks. 

“Trust me, Niall is very good at his job.” Lou piped in, confidence laced in her tone. “Aren’t you, Niall?” She added, throwing a wink to Niall and Zayn snorted. They could say whatever they wanted, but Zayn, he was still sceptical about the new guy.

***********

Zayn could barely standing when he opened the door of the backstage room, and headed straight towards the couch, plopping down beside Liam, who was engrossed with his laptop. “What are you doing?” Zayn asked, before leaning back against the couch, closing his eyes, trying to catch a nap before the show.

“Booking a ticket for Soph. She’s on holiday so I figure I’d fly her to here,” Liam replied and Zayn nodded understandingly. He knew Liam had been missing his girlfriend for a while now, since the US tour legs kicked off. Zayn himself was missing his family and he made a mental note to call his mother later. But first, a nap, he thought, as he shifted his body slightly to get a comfortable position to sleep. 

“Hey!” A loud voice of Niall jerked Zayn’s out of his almost-sleep state and his eyes widened, only to glare at Niall who was standing near the door, talking to Dan probably something about the guitar, and Zayn huffed. 

“He’s a bit loud, isn’t he?” Liam asked, and Zayn turned his head slightly to look at Liam and nodded. 

“Too loud.” Zayn muttered, only to earn a slight chuckle for Liam. 

“Yeah, but he makes everyone happy around here, you know? It’s like everybody loves him,” Liam pointed out.

Zayn hummed, closing his eyes again, but Liam’s words were stuck in his mind. It was the truth after all. Niall was so loud, and carefree, and probably being excited over everything that sometimes it annoyed Zayn to no end. He still couldn’t wrapped his head around the fact that Niall was already fitted in into the group of his tour family and it was barely even a month that Niall had joined the team. It seemed like everyone was Niall’s best friend already. Even his own gym trainer had gotten along with Niall, and even called him _Daisy_ , probably as their inside joke, but Zayn couldn’t help but snort when he overheard it a few days before. What kind of nickname was that? He mentally asked himself, but he knew somehow it seemed like it fit Niall. Maybe, he didn’t know. Before Zayn got into deep into his thought, he shook his head, trying to get rid of it. After all, Niall was only his _annoying_ wardrobe stylist, that’s all. 

 

***********

 

“I think this one is more suitable-“

“Not all all!” Zayn yelled, and Niall backed away slightly from him. Zayn threw the rest of the clothes from the rack onto the floor, shaking his head. “Get rid of these. I won’t wear these things on my tour, absolutely not.” 

Niall didn’t bulge from his spot, glancing at the thrown clothes briefly, before he looked at Zayn again. “Look, I’ve put a lots of thought for the theme okay? It seems fits with your new album and songs and-“

“You clearly have thought wrong!” Zayn huffed and part of him was feeling guilty for snapping at Niall but part of him didn’t care. He was tired and to be ambushed with Niall about the new set of wardrobes that he needed to wear, was making him annoyed. “What made you think that I would wear this kind of pants?” Zayn said, waving the pant in his hand, before he threw it on the floor, piling it along with the rest of the clothes. 

Niall blinked his eyes, opening his mouth to say something before Zayn shook his head, cutting him off. “If this is how it ends up with my wardrobes, I should’ve never let anyone replacing Caroline,” he huffed angrily. 

“Hey, the foods are ready,” Harry’s voice suddenly appeared at the door, his eyes darting between Zayn and Niall, obviously noticing the tense atmosphere. Harry winked at Niall, obviously trying to make the frowning boy in front of him smiled, and Zayn rolled his eyes. Of course Harry had a soft spot for Niall too, of _fucking_ course. 

“Go ahead. I need to smoke.” Zayn stressed, glaring at Niall briefly, and although he felt a bit guilty when Niall was visibly shrunk under his fierce gaze, he didn’t’ care. Everything was so stressing at the moment. 

Harry nodded silently, but not without a timid grin that he threw at Zayn as he grabbed Niall’s hand, linking their arms. He winked at Niall before starting to chat animatedly with the other guy, heading back towards the door. 

Zayn watched their retreating figures and he could hear how Niall was suddenly warming up to Harry, exclaiming that he would like to cook with Harry too sometimes. Zayn shook his head, his mind was reeling with the annoyance towards Niall. “Such a people pleaser. What a faker,” he muttered under his breath.

 

**********

 

Zayn cursed under his breath as he tried to knot the tie, _again_ and still having trouble to complete the task. He watched himself in the mirror, contemplating on whether he should just leave the tie out, but his thought was cutting short when suddenly Niall was standing in front of him, trying to knot the tie for him. 

“I don’t know why you can’t even do this. Thought you had been attending this kind of events for years,” Niall commented. 

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t mean I like the dress code,” he quipped. “To be in this freaking suit is already a torture, let alone in this _freaking_ tie. I still don’t understand the importance of wearing suits and tie when I can wear something comfy instead. I should’ve let them known that tie-“

“Look, I don’t want to be rude, but this event is a charity for the orphan and less fortunate person. And I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to sacrifice my few goddamn hours in suit and tie if I was in your position so stop whining and being a completely diva about it,” Niall snapped, cutting Zayn off. 

Zayn closed his mouth in instance, completely speechless with the tone that Niall was using towards him. It was the first time that he had received the harsh tone from Niall. He noticed how Niall’s nose was red, and he looked mad. Zayn had never thought that Niall had an ounce of _angry_ bone in his body. Guess he was wrong. 

“There,” Niall said after he finished knotting Zayn’s tie. “Now, stop being a twat and be a good person for once,” he added, before dashing out of the room, leaving Zayn completely stunned with his words. 

 

**********

 

“Mind if I join you?” 

Zayn turned his head to the left, shrugging slightly before he pulled out his box of cigarette, offering the remaining sticks to Louis. 

Louis smiled gratefully, pulling out a stick of cigarette before lighting it up. “So, what’s up with you and Niall?” Louis asked after a few beats of silence between them. 

Zayn turned his gaze from the space across them, shifting his gaze towards Louis. “What’s up with me and Niall?” He asked confusingly. 

Louis shrugged, blowing out some smoke, before he answered to Zayn. “I don’t know. You’re always being shitty towards him, bro.” 

“I’m not-“

“Yes, you are.” Louis said, cutting Zayn off. “It’s not like I can’t see it, Zayn. Sometimes you’re snapping at him for no reason, and I don’t think it’s fair to him. He’s just doing his job.” 

“What, you’re his dad now?” Zayn snarled, suddenly getting annoyed at Louis’s words. 

Louis shook his head. “No, but I’m his friend now too. And he’s a good guy. Just because he reminded you of _her_ , doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to treat him like that.” 

Zayn’s body stiffened. He knew Louis knew how much he despised _her_ , how he loathed to hear _her_ name after everything. “All blondes are just the same,” Zayn said, huffing angrily. 

Louis snorted, shaking his head disbelievingly. “Real mature, Zayn,” he quipped sarcastically. “I bet you don’t know that Niall’s actual hair colour is brunette,” he pointed out, glancing at Zayn briefly. “I know this is more than the hair colour, okay? But I don’t know that you’re _that_ stereotyping and judgemental.” 

Zayn kept silent, and it lingered until Louis just sighed heavily at him, before leaving him alone. 

 

**********

 

Zayn opened the door with a slight confusion as he smelled a familiar aroma, the one that smelled too close to his mother’s cooking. He wanted to ask Harry, but before he could do that, he was beat by the loud chorus of “Happy Birthday Zayn!” when he entered the dining room.

He glanced around, his lips quirked into a grin as he watched his tour team, with a big cake in the middle of the room. “Wow,” was all that he could say as he was led towards the cake by Lou. “Thank you guys,” Zayn said gratefully after he cut the cake and all of the crews started to scatter around, eating and chatting with each other. 

“And thank you Harry for the foods. I’ve never known that you could cook chicken korma,” Zayn added, smiling at the guy, who was munching happily besides him. Harry glanced up from his plate, shaking his head. 

“Oh, that one, it wasn’t me,” Harry said, grinning at Zayn. 

Zayn raised his eyebrows, and before he could open his mouth to ask Harry, he was beat by, “it was Niall who cooked that dish for you,” Harry told him. 

“What?” Zayn asked dumbfounded. “Are you pulling my leg?” He asked sceptically. 

Harry rolled his eyes, thumping Zayn’s head with the back of his spoon. “Look, I love you, okay? But dish like that is not my specialty. So when Niall heard about the party, he offered to cook the korma too, saying that he notices that you’ve been feeling homesick lately, something like that.” 

Zayn mouthed an “oh,” glancing towards the other corner of the room, where his eyes fell upon Niall who was happily chatting with Louis, probably about football, knowing the two of them. Deep down, Zayn was touched by Niall’s thoughtful gesture even though all Zayn had done was being cold towards him. Apparently it didn’t affect Niall much if he was kind enough to notice Zayn’s homesickness and cooked his favourite home-cooked meal on his birthday. 

Harry nudged him by the elbow, startling him out of his stupor before he glanced back at Harry. “He’s nice, right?” Harry asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Zayn rolled his eyes, this time he was the one who thumped Harry’s head with his spoon. “Eat!” He scolded and Harry laughed, before he stood up, leaving Zayn alone on his seat. Zayn glanced to his right to look at Niall again. Much to his surprise, Niall was walking towards him, with a big grin on his face. Typical. 

“Happy birthday, Zayn,” Niall wished cheerfully. 

Zayn nodded. “Thank you,” he said simply, before added, “and thank you for the chicken korma too. It was delicious.” 

“Ah, glad you like it!” Niall exclaimed excitedly. His eyes sparkled, and his face was beaming with happiness. Zayn couldn’t help but started to smile too. But his smile didn’t stay too long when suddenly there was a voice in the back of his mind that reminded him of his action. He won’t give the satisfaction to Niall, to let him know that he was touched, because he used to do that with _her_ and look what happened. 

Abruptly, he stood up from his seat, “yeah, gotta go,” he said, before he dashed out of the room, leaving a very confusing Niall behind. 

 

**********

 

“I don’t want to wear that.” Zayn grumbled, pointing at the clothes that were hanging on the rack, specifically labelled with a bold, capital letters, ‘TONIGHT’. 

Zayn heard Louis sighed heavily from the couch. “Zayn, don’t be a dick,” he quipped, glancing between Zayn and Niall. 

Zayn knew that he was acting like a child, but yet, he _really_ didn’t want to wear the clothes. 

Niall shook his head, sighing too before he raised his arms in surrender. “Fine, wear whatever you want to, _Your Majesty_.” 

 

**********

 

Zayn cursed under his breath as he felt up his jeans and found that there was lack of phone in his pocket. He stopped walking towards the parking lot, and manoeuvred his body towards the backstage room again. He was pretty sure that he had dropped the phone on the table a few hours ago. 

He was about to reach the door, the slightly ajar door of the backstage room when he heard it. The sound of someone crying. He stepped closer, peering his eyes over the small slit between the door, and he couldn’t see properly until his eyes landed on Niall, who was leaning against the wall, and he was crying. 

“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Holly,” Niall sobbed and Zayn swallowed thickly. _Do what? And who is Holly?_ Zayn had never heard of the name before and trust him, Niall had talked a lot about his hometown. Zayn was sure that by now everyone must’ve known every single person that Niall had associated with from Ireland. Zayn was the only one who didn’t pay too much attention. 

“No. It’s not that. They’re all good to me,” Niall said and Zayn was brought out from his stupor upon Niall’s voice. 

Niall went silent for a moment, and for a minute Zayn started to panic, scared that Niall would see him. He stepped back slightly from the door, but his eyes never left Niall’s hunched figure against the wall. 

“I read the tweets, Holly. They were horrible,” Niall’s voice was heard again and Zayn raised his eyebrows. _What tweets?_

“They said I didn’t do my job. Like Zayn shouldn’t even bother to hire me because I didn’t fucking do my job,” Niall said, still sniffling and Zayn felt a tug on his heart string. He knew his fans. Not that he didn’t love them, but some of them could be vicious, and hateful. And now, Zayn felt _totally_ guilty. He just couldn’t believe it that Niall was resort to cry over this. He never thought that Niall was capable of crying because of his optimism and a smile that had never left his face. Except for when he was arguing with Zayn, which was pretty understandable. 

“I think…” Niall paused, and Zayn held his breath, listening. “Maybe my dad was right. Maybe I should just go back to Ireland and forget my useless dream of being a successful stylist,” he continued, and Zayn felt like he wanted to burst into the room and shook Niall, telling him that no, it wasn’t his fault. Niall did a good job and he was ambitious and talented. It was Zayn himself that was being stubborn. 

Zayn shook his head. What had he done? 

“Zayn? What are you doing? Everyone is waiting for you.” Zayn jumped slightly at the sudden voice from behind him and he turned around to face Liam, who was staring at him confusingly. Before Zayn could reply, Liam spoke up again. “Oh, and have you seen Niall?” 

Zayn felt his heart pounding rapidly against his chest, part of the reason was because he was surprised by Liam’s sudden appearance, and part of it was because he didn’t want Niall to hear their voices. And deep down, Zayn was hoping that Liam won’t see Niall crying, because for some reason, Zayn knew that Niall didn’t want anyone to see him in his vulnerable state. 

“Zayn?” Liam called out when he didn’t answer and Zayn cleared his throat, trying to act casual. 

“Yeah, I was just about to look for my phone, you know.” Zayn told Liam, before he slowly opened the door. 

Once the door was fully opened, there was no more trace of Niall on the floor, instead the other lad was packing his bag and his back was facing both Zayn and Liam. 

“Hey, there you are!” Liam greeted cheerily, totally oblivious of what had just happened. 

Zayn nervously watched as Niall started to turn around, and glancing up to look at both of them. For a moment, Zayn was impressed on how different Niall was from what he had seen a few minutes ago. Niall was smiling at Liam, but this time, Zayn noticed that Niall’s smile was not reaching his eyes. 

Niall’s eyes were slightly red and puffy, and by the way Liam’s smile had faltered slightly, Zayn knew Liam must’ve noticed that something was wrong. Fortunately, Liam seemed to pick up the way that Niall’s body went completely rigid, and definitely not keen of talking about it. 

“Thought we lost you.” Liam said instead, swinging his arm over Niall’s shoulder. Zayn gazed away, suddenly feeling like he didn’t want to see Liam’s arm around Niall because he was the one who had found Niall first. He was the one who knew that Niall was upset, and it was supposed to be his arm over Niall, not Liam’s. _Wait, what?_

 

**********

 

Zayn couldn’t fall asleep that night. He kept tossing and turning around on his bed, trying to find a perfect position to fall asleep but he failed to. He ended up staring at the ceiling instead, sighing loudly. 

He couldn’t get rid of the image, the look on Niall’s face when he was crying. Zayn didn’t know that he would feel so bad about someone’s crying, not that he wasn’t used to it, but this was different. It was Niall. Niall who laughed at the Harry’s lame jokes, who didn’t get offended at Louis’s sassiness and teasing, and who was always fit himself into the date with Liam and Sophia, and they would laugh together about the threesome jokes between them. 

It just didn’t occur to Zayn that Niall was a human being too. And Zayn was sure that he didn’t want to see the same look on Niall’s face again. It broke his heart to see Niall’s crying face and despite all the bad treatments that he had given Niall over the months, deep down he knew he cared about the guy. 

Zayn grabbed his phone from the bedside table, blinking slightly at the sudden light emitted from the phone. He logged into twitter, and started to creep. He was curious about the tweets that Niall had cried about. Knowing his fans, he knew that some of them could be pretty harsh with words. 

He scrolled down the search bar of his name, and among the thousands tweets about following spree, Zayn finally found the related tweets, he thought. Most of them were criticising the way Zayn was dressed during the award show and Zayn couldn’t help but wince when he read the mean comments, especially the ones that had been directly mentioned towards Niall’s account. He clicked on Niall’s username, and groaned when he realized that it was private. 

After a few minutes of reading the tweets, Zayn sighed, logging out from the site and putting his phone back onto the table. He had a mission tomorrow, and with that thought and determination, he finally fell asleep. 

 

**********

 

“So, you want to hang out later on the bus? I want to watch the Mockingjay, you could join if you want to,” Zayn started, the first thing in the morning when they were having breakfast in the small room at the venue. 

Niall glanced up from his bowl, with his mouth was full with cereals, and he stared at Zayn with bulging cheeks and wide eyes. Zayn almost sighed fondly at the sight, _almost_ before he caught himself and shook his head. 

“You’re talking to me?” Niall asked once he finished swallowing down his breakfast. 

Zayn nodded. “Yeah, we’ll have like 16 hours trip on the bus, so I figure, why not killing the time watching movies?”

Niall stared at Zayn sceptically, before he glanced around the room. Zayn did the same too, and of course, beside himself and Niall, there were no one else because everybody had already flee out to do their own jobs. 

A few beats of silence lingered before Niall finally nodded, shrugging slightly, “okay.” 

 

**********

 

It became a routine for them to watch movies together. Sometimes Louis and Liam, and even Harry were watching with them too, but most of the time, it was only Zayn and Niall. 

Sometimes, Niall fell asleep before the movie ended, and Zayn didn’t even mind a slightest bit when Niall’s head fell onto his shoulder, or even sometimes on his lap. There was something about being close to Niall that made Zayn’s heart fluttered. He couldn’t help but run his finger through Niall’s hair sometimes, wondering what Niall would look like if he hadn’t re-dye his hair. 

And if everyone seemed to notice the change between Zayn and Niall’s dynamic, nobody had commented about it, yet. 

 

**********

 

“Zayn! Need a little help here.” 

Zayn glanced up from looking at his phone upon hearing his name, and his eyes met with the sight of Liam, dragging a slumping Niall besides him towards the couch. Zayn abruptly standing up, frowning as he started to approach Liam and Niall. “What happened?” He asked worriedly when he saw Niall’s face was pinched with pain, and his eyes were closed tightly. Zayn reached for Niall’s other arm, trying to help Liam to manoeuvre Niall towards the couch. 

Once they dropped Niall carefully on the couch, Niall started to whimper again, burying his face on the couch, muttering something about brightness. Zayn glanced at Liam, “what happened?” he asked again. 

Liam sighed. “We were wandering around the shops when he got a nosebleed. On our way home, he claimed that his head was pounding too, probably his migraine is acting up again.” 

“He has migraine?” Zayn asked curiously, never knowing that fact about Niall. When Liam shrugged, Zayn nodded, understand that Niall probably didn’t tell anyone about it. He moved towards the small table at the corner of the room, grabbing some water bottles and heading towards the couch again. 

“I gotta go to pick up Soph,” Liam said, glancing at his watch before he stared at Zayn again. “Can you watch him for a while? I mean, I’ll ask someone else if you’re-“

“No, it’s okay. I have a few hours to kill before the show anyway.” Zayn cuts Liam off. Liam nodded, before he dashed out of the room, leaving Zayn and Niall alone. 

“Hey,” Zayn probed gently, trying to roll Niall onto his back but Niall started to whimper again, curling his body into a ball, facing the back of the couch. “Hey, I have some medicines for the migraine, just need you to take it, so you might need to sit for a while, yeah?” 

Niall groaned miserably, before he finally uncurled himself, rolling onto his back and groaned again when he opened his eyes. “Hurts,” he muttered and Zayn smiled sympathetically at him. 

“I know.” Zayn said, as he tried to help propping Niall’s body up slightly, and passing him the water. “Like I said, I got the cure for it, at least.” 

Niall ended up leaning against Zayn’s chest, as Zayn tried to help him to swallow the pills, and for a moment, Zayn was at loss on what to do after Niall had finished taking the medicine. He was ready to move again, to let Niall rest on the couch but suddenly Niall curled himself onto Zayn, hiding his face against Zayn’s chest, and Zayn stilled. 

It wasn’t a surprise that Niall was a fan of cuddling, but never before he did it with Zayn. Most of the time he found Niall and Harry, and everyone had cooed over their cuteness. But that wasn’t the point, the point was, at the moment, Niall was seeking a comfort for him, and Zayn couldn’t describe the exact feeling that he felt as he wrapped his arms around Niall’s waist, bringing his body closer. All he knew was he loved being the one who provided comfort for Niall. 

Zayn didn’t know how long he had fallen asleep, but he was woken up by the sound of Louis’s voice near his face and he opened his eyes, only to meet with Louis’s face, so close to him and he let out a yelp in surprise. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Zayn grumbled, and Louis chuckled slightly, putting a finger on his lips. 

“Shh, princess is sleeping,” Louis whispered, pointing at Niall, who was still sleeping against Zayn’s chest. Zayn glanced down, feeling slightly better when he noticed that there was no pinched lines across Niall’s face like earlier. The pills must’ve kicked in, Zayn thought to himself. 

Zayn was snapped out of his thought when Louis thumped his head slightly. “Enough with your heart eyes, Malik,” Louis teased and Zayn flipped him off with his other hand that wasn’t holding Niall at the moment. 

“What time is it?” Zayn asked, trying to look at the wall clock but failed to as he was afraid to move and woke Niall up. Somehow he wanted to savour the moment with Niall. 

“Half past 7,” Louis replied. “Sorry bro, but I think you need to start warming up before the show,” He said to Zayn, and Zayn sighed slightly. 

He glanced down again, moving his hand to brush some of Niall’s bangs, wondering if Niall was still having his migraine or not. Zayn was quite reluctant to perform if Niall wasn’t present for the show. Somehow, Zayn grew accustom of seeing Niall watching him from the side stage. 

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Louis asked, startling Zayn and he tore his gaze away from Niall to look at Louis.

“I’m just-“ 

Louis smiled, shaking his head. “Just go, I’ll stay with him.” 

And with a reluctant nod, Zayn finally uncurled his hand against Niall’s body, slipping out silently and putting his jacket under Niall’s head, as some sort of a pillow. He leaned down slightly, almost giving Niall a kiss of his forehead, but he suddenly realized that Louis was in the room too, and he abruptly straightened up, shaking his head. 

And if he heard Louis snorted, muttering, “idiot,” on his way out of the room, Zayn pretended that he didn’t hear it. 

 

**********

 

“He’s nice.” Doniya said, plopping down beside Zayn on the couch, making Zayn to turn his head to look at her. “And cute,” Doniya added, grinning cheekily at Zayn. “No wonder you can’t stop staring at him.”

Zayn felt his cheeks flushed instantly and he shook his head, trying to get rid of the ridiculous reaction by rolling his eyes at his sister. “I wasn’t staring at him,” Zayn argued. “I was just curious to know on what they’re doing.” 

Doniya snorted disbelievingly, crossing her arms over her chest and leaned against the back of the couch slightly. “Liar,” she muttered and before Zayn could response to that, she continued, “he’s showing the fashion things to Waliyha, you know how much she’s interested in fashion. And I’m pretty sure Safaa won’t let go of Niall until we leave though, looks like she has a new crush.” 

“Huh,” was the only response that he could give at the moment. There was something stirring inside his heart as he watched how easy Niall was fitting in with his younger sisters. In fact, _too_ fit in as Zayn could see how Safaa was practically didn’t want to leave Niall’s lap forever and Waliyha couldn’t stop smiling at him, like Niall hung out the moon and the stars. 

“Too bad he’s gay,” Doniya said suddenly. 

“What?” Zayn shrieked, a little too loud and he felt three pair of eyes were looking at his direction. He waved them off, “nothing, don’t mind me,” he said, smiling tightly at his sisters and Niall. When the three of them resumed their conversation again, Zayn turned to look at Doniya, who had been muffling her laughter behind her hands. 

“How did you know that?” Zayn asked, and Doniya uncovered her face, grinning at Zayn. 

“I asked him earlier when you weren’t here,” Doniya told him. “And before you nag at me, no, I didn’t ask that question for you, I asked it for _me,_ ” she continued. “You know how blunt I am about this thing. If I can’t get the clarification of someone’s status, I won’t start to fall deeper for them.” 

Zayn blinked, staring at Doniya wordlessly, and his sister rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you were jealous of your own sisters.” 

“I wasn’t jealous!” Zayn hissed, didn’t want to catch the attention from three other persons in the room like he did earlier. 

Doniya shook her head, staring at Zayn intensely, before a moment later, she started to grin cheekily, reaching for Zayn’s cheeks. “I’m your big sister, I know you better than you know yourself,” she said, pinching Zayn’s cheeks, cooing slightly, “you’re so cute when you’re jealous.” 

Zayn swatted Doniya’s hands away from his cheeks, shaking his head. “I’m not-“ 

“Doniya, Safaa’s hungry,” Waliyha said suddenly, and both Doniya and Zayn turned to look at her. 

Doniya stood up from the couch, walking over to Safaa, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go find some foods,” she said, before grabbing Waliyha’s hand as well. “You, let’s eat too.”

“But I’m not-“ Waliyha started to protest but her words died on her lips when Doniya gave one of her _stare_ , the infamous stare that sometimes could make Zayn scared too. 

Zayn watched as her sisters hugged Niall before they went out of the room, leaving both him and Niall alone. Niall walked over to the couch, grabbing one of the magazines from the table, and flipping it through, “your sisters are beautiful.” 

“Thanks,” Zayn said simply. If he didn’t know that Niall was not interested in his sisters, he would probably already be in his protective brother mode, but Doniya’s words about Niall earlier were still ringing in Zayn’s head. “I didn’t know that you’re gay,” Zayn blurted out suddenly, and mentally slapped himself for not being subtle at all. 

Niall stilled, before he turned his head to the left to look at Zayn. “Why? You have a problem with gay people?” He asked, eyes hardened as he stared at Zayn and this time, Zayn _really_ wanted to slap himself for being an idiot. 

“No, no. Trust me, I’ve no problem at all,” Zayn said sincerely. “It’s just, I never knew about that?” He said uncertainly. 

Niall’s body started to relax again, and he shrugged slightly. “You never asked,” Niall pointed out. 

And oh, Zayn thought to himself. That was true. He never bothered to ask anything about Niall before. Especially not on his sexuality. 

Niall leaned back against the head of the couch, tipping his head slightly to stare at the ceiling and Zayn followed the same too, sighing a bit, before he spoke up again. “I guess I always thought you and Holly are a thing,” Zayn admitted truthfully. “You two were inseparable when she came to the tour to visit you,” he pointed out casually, no longer feeling bitter about that weekend when Holly had come to meet Niall. Zayn didn’t understand why he had been feeling that way but he remembered being grumpy on the same weekend. 

Niall straightened up, staring at Zayn with a serious expression, and a moment later, he started to laugh loudly, shaking his head. “Oh, my god. I can’t wait to tell Holly about this,” Niall gasped between his laughter. 

Zayn snorted, punching Niall’s arm lightly. “Shut up. How would I know that you’re gay? You guys were so close,” he grumbled, trying to hide his embarrassment at his wrong assumption about Niall’s relationship. 

Niall wheezed, starting to sober down from his laughter, before he shook his head. “We’ve been friends since I was 6, of course we’re close. Gosh, he’s like my sister already. The thought of dating her-,“ Niall trailed off, shuddering slightly. “Unacceptable,” he said. “Plus, now that you know about my sexual orientation, obviously I’m not dating her. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’d be beaten to death by her boyfriend.” 

Zayn grinned, feeling relieved at Niall’s admission. And he didn’t even know why. 

 

**********

 

Zayn shifted to his left, closer towards Niall before he slipped his hand into the popcorn bowl, earning a slight smack from Niall’s hand. “Go make it yourself,” Niall grumbled, his eyes darting briefly between the screen and Zayn. 

Zayn smiled innocently at him, shrugging slightly before he leaned to his left, trying to feed the popcorn into Niall’s mouth. Niall was still pouting, but when Zayn started to poke his lips with the popcorn, Niall started to giggle and opened his mouth. It was nice, to play around with Niall on their usual movie night, except Zayn had forgotten that this particular night was not normal, because Liam, Louis and Harry were in the same room too and the three of them looked at both him and Niall with wide eyes after Zayn fed Niall the popcorn. 

Zayn felt his cheeks flustered, while Niall’s eyes were still glued to the screen, and Zayn didn’t know either Niall was oblivious or he just didn’t care about three scrutinizing eyes that were focused on them. Zayn mentally cursed himself for inviting the other three to join their movie night, but Niall had bumped into Harry on his way to Zayn’s room and Louis and Liam were trying to coax Zayn out for clubbing, and they ended up watching movie together instead. 

Liam and Harry shifted their attention back to the screen after Zayn just shrugged them off but Louis was still wiggling his eyebrows at Zayn. Zayn rolled his eyes, before flipping Louis off with his right hand, hoping that Niall won’t notice it. Although he couldn’t help but felt a little bit disappointed since he couldn’t feed more popcorns for Niall like he always did out of habit during their movie night. 

“I’m beat,” Niall announced after the credits started to roll, and Zayn blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes, nodding understandingly. After all, he was beat too. Niall yawned loudly, before stretching his arms up, and his shirt went up too, exposing a little view of his stomach, and Zayn absentmindedly checking it out before he snapped out of it, shaking his head, hoping that nobody noticed. Except Louis, who obviously had noticed when he threw a mischievous smirk at Zayn. 

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Niall said, already making his way towards the door, waving them off. His hand was already on the doorknob, before he turned around slightly, glancing back towards Zayn, smiling. “See you,” he said, specifically at Zayn and if the other three people were not in his room, Zayn might actually asked Niall to stay. Just for the company, at least that was what he told himself. 

Zayn nodded anyway, throwing a smile back to Niall. “Good night,” he said, before blurting out, “sweet dreams.” 

The moment the door was closed, Zayn turned his head around only to find three pairs of eyes are staring at him. “What?” 

“Good night, sweet dream.” Louis mimicked, full with Zayn’s accent. “What was that? Was that the way of telling him to dream of you?” He asked, which earned a snort from Liam and a chuckle from Harry. 

Zayn rolled his eyes, before he grabbed one of the pillows, and throwing it towards Louis. 

 

**********

 

“Hey Zayn, have you seen Niall?” Harry asks as he bumped into Zayn at the hallways. Zayn glances up from his phone, shaking his head at Harry. 

“Nah, why?” Zayn asks curiously. 

Harry frowned slightly, glancing at his watch. “He texted me, said he’ll meet me at the lobby, but he was 15 minutes late, so I thought he dropped by your room or something.” 

Zayn raised his eyebrows. “Or he could just be late.” 

Harry hummed, contemplating on Zayn’s answer, before shaking his head. “He’s usually punctual,” he pointed out. 

Zayn nodded, agreeing with Harry. He knew Niall was always punctual, which was completely opposite of Zayn, who was always late. 

“Want to check his room?" Zayn asked, already making his way towards the other end of the hallway, and Harry trailed behind a few steps. Zayn tried to call Niall’s phone, but it went straight to voicemail, and Zayn frowned slightly. “How long ago you said he was texting you?” 

Harry looked down at his phone. “Half an hour ago, kinda,” he told Zayn. “And he said he was already on his way out.” 

Zayn quickened his pace towards Niall’s room, suddenly feeling like something was wrong. He tried his best to compose himself in front of Harry though, because it would look nonsense for Zayn to be worried about Niall for nothing. 

When they reached Niall’s room, the door was slightly ajar, and both of them froze when they heard Niall’s voice. Zayn couldn’t really hear the words but he felt his heart dropped when he heard another voice, an unmistakable sound of another guy in the room. Harry turned his head to look at him sympathetically, “Zayn-,”

Zayn shook his head, and he was about to flee, probably hiding in his room forever and never wanted to see Niall again, when suddenly he heard the sound of Niall’s voice again. This time it was louder than before.

“Please, let me go! Get off me!” 

Zayn’s eyes widened, along with Harry’s when they heard the distressed sound coming from the room. A surge of protectiveness suddenly came rushing through Zayn and he and Harry both barged into Niall’s room. 

Zayn’s eyes landed on the sight of Niall, who was pinning on the bed, held by, _wait_ , was that one of his security guards? “What are you doing?” Zayn yelled, startling the bigger guy before he turned his head to look at Zayn. 

Zayn, out of adrenaline, started to push the guard away from Niall, and before Zayn could throw a punch on the guard’s face, the guy ran out of the room. Zayn turned around, only to see Niall, who was crying into Harry’s arms. Niall’s pants was halfway down, and his briefs were almost down too, exposing his v-line, while his top was scattered on the floor. Zayn bent down to pick it, before making his way towards Niall. 

“Hey,” Zayn called gently, pulling up the duvet to cover Niall’s shaking body, before he took over Harry’s place to hold Niall. “You alright?” He asked gently, hovering his finger on the slight bruise on Niall’s cheek. “What happened?” 

Niall’s body stilled at the question, before he shook his head, “he..,” Niall gasped, “…I..” 

Zayn sighed quietly, stroking Niall’s hair to comfort him. “Syhh, it’s alright. You can talk about it later, okay?” 

It took half an hour before Niall’s tears subsided to sniffling, and bless Harry, for slipping out to get some tea for Niall to calm him down. Zayn felt a little bit disappointed when Niall pulled away from him, averting his eyes, as Niall shifted to lean against the bedpost, pulling the duvet up until it was tuck under his chin. 

“It started a few weeks ago…” Niall started, biting his nails, while he started to spill out the story to Zayn and Harry. Apparently, the guy had been harassing him with dirty words and little touches but Niall thought it was harmless, and he didn’t really dwell on it. “Until, just now, he sneaked into the room, and tried to-,” Niall gulped, shuddering slightly, “force himself on me.” 

Zayn gritted his teeth, clenching his fist in anger, as he tried to process on Niall’s words. His eyes couldn’t take off of Niall’s bruised cheeks, and his mind couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he and Harry didn’t try to find Niall earlier. 

“I think you should file charges against him,” Harry’s voice startling Zayn’s out of his reverie and he nodded, agreeing with Harry’s idea. 

Niall shook his head. “I’m just-,” he trailed off, sighing slightly. “I don’t want to put anybody in jail.” 

“But he hurt you,” Zayn quipped and regret his snappish tone when Niall flinched slightly. “Look, okay, if you don’t want to file charges against him, let me handle this, okay? I’ll make sure he won’t able to be near you again, okay?” 

Niall stared at him for a moment, and Zayn threw an assurance smile, before Niall finally nodded, “okay.” 

 

**********

 

The security guard was fired, and Zayn made it clear enough that nobody would be allowed to harass Niall again. Since that day, Zayn won’t let Niall out of his sight during the tour. They were totally inseparable and Zayn knew everyone noticed that, but nobody was commenting about it, at least not to his face. 

 

**********

 

“Niall, please, play some music,” Louis pleaded, throwing some chips at Niall, and Niall just laughed it off, like he always did around Louis. 

Zayn snorted at that sight, kicking Louis’s feet, as far as he could reach from his spot on the couch. Louis yelped, slapping Zayn’s ankle, and Zayn grinned. 

Niall laughed at them, shaking his head, before he started to tune in the guitar in his hand. Zayn tilted his head up slightly, watching Niall and he couldn’t help but fascinated by Niall’s side profile. Niall’s nose was straight and pointy, complimenting his facial feature, and sometimes Zayn could see a little dimple appeared on Niall’s cheeks when he smirked. It wasn’t as obvious as Harry’s dimple, but it was enough to add the sweetness of Niall’s feature. 

At the first strum, Zayn snorted when he heard the familiar tune. Niall laughed, but didn’t stop playing and started singing instead. Zayn closed his eyes, listening to Niall’s voice and smiled slightly when Niall fumbled through some of the lyrics. 

_”Tell me why…Ain’t nothing but a heartache…Tell me why…Ain’t nothing but a mistake…Tell me why..”_

_”I never wanna hear you say…I want it that way…”_ Zayn sang along, opening his eyes, and stared right into Niall’s. They both smiled at each other, and continued singing along together. 

_”Cause I want it that way..”_

Zayn had forgotten the others were in the backstage room too, until Harry started to coo loudly, while Liam and Louis started to wolf-whistle, and some of other people clapped when he and Niall had finished their singalong. 

He glanced at Niall, who was starting to blush, and it was so adorable that Zayn wanted to coo. 

“That was so sweet,” Harry cooed, and Zayn watched as there was more prominent blush on Niall’s already reddish cheeks. 

“I gotta go, have some errands to do,” Niall said, putting down the guitar besides the couch carefully, before he dashed out of the room. 

“Aw, he’s getting embarrassed,” Louis teased, before he moved to sit down beside Zayn, turning his head to stare at Zayn and his eyes widen. “Oh my god, you’re blushing too!” Louis squeals. “Aw, you guys are so cute.”

Zayn glared at Louis, well, attempted to since Louis was already cackling, and the least Zayn could do was to punch Louis’s arms. 

 

*********

 

“Fuck!” Zayn cursed out loud when he saw a sea of paparazzi in front of the airport. He glanced towards his left, looking at Niall, knowing full well about Niall’s claustrophobic. Zayn debated with himself whether he wanted to wait until all the paparazzi left, or maybe using the backdoor, but it was already too late when he heard all of those cameras started to flash. 

“Just follow close behind me, okay?” Zayn told Niall, and the other guy obliged, clutching towards Zayn’s backpack lightly, as Zayn started to path his way towards the crowds. 

_“Zayn, Zayn, look here!”_

_”Zayn what about the next album?”_

_”Any comment about your new tattoo?”_

Zayn tried his best to walk without getting blinded, and he could felt the paparazzi started to come closer until there was no path to walk through. He felt his backpack yanked from behind and for a second he didn’t remember about Niall until he turned around and Niall was on the floor, knocked by one of the paparazzi. “Get away from him!” Zayn started to yell, pushing the paparazzi away before he pulled Niall’s hand to stand up again, grabbing Niall’s shoulder, “are you okay?” 

Niall seemed pale, but he nodded nonetheless, “I’m fine,” he said quietly and Zayn’s heart was beating rapidly out of anger, because obviously, Niall was not fine by the way he was wheezing and Zayn knew his claustrophobic had kicked in. 

Zayn grabbed Niall’s hand, ignoring the cry of paparazzi and he even swore at them when they were blocking his path again. This time, he didn’t care, all he cared was to get into the car safely. 

Once they reached the car, Zayn let out a relief sigh, turning his head to look at Niall. “I’m sorry you had to endure that,” he apologized. 

“It’s okay,” Niall said quietly. 

Zayn shook his head. “It’s not okay. It’s unfair to you to go through that because of me. I was the one who they wanted, not you,” he told Niall. “Next time, I’ll make sure to tell Liam to arrange our travel time separately.” 

Niall shrugged, just nodding quietly before he leaned his head against the glass window of the car. Zayn let him be, thinking that after the encounter with the paparazzi earlier, Niall might need some space for himself. 

 

*********

 

“Hey, Lou, have you seen Niall?” Zayn asked as he entered Louis’s room, sitting at the edge of Louis’s bed.

Louis glanced up from his laptop, raising his eyebrows at Zayn. “You’re asking me? Aren’t you two inseparable now?” 

Zayn ignored Louis’s comment, glancing back towards his phone. There was no reply from Niall as he usually did when Zayn texted him, and Zayn was worried, especially when he remembered the last time Niall didn’t reply to Harry and found him being attacked in his room. 

Louis rolled his eyes at Zayn, grabbing his own phone from the bedside table and checking the schedule. “Figured you would find him to say goodbye,” Louis muttered under his breath. “His flight is at 4pm,” he told Zayn, swiping to lock his phone again after checking the schedule. 

“Flight? For what?” Zayn asked confusingly. Wasn’t Niall was just on the same flight as him last night? “What are you talking about?” 

Louis shrugged casually, staring at his laptop again. “He’s going back to Ireland.” 

Zayn’s head snapped to turn to look at Louis, so quickly that it almost got whiplash. “What do you mean he’s going back to Ireland? Is there any emergency matter with his family?” 

Louis glanced up to look at Zayn again, blinking his eyes, frowning slightly at Zayn. “He didn’t tell you?” He asked and when Zayn shook his head, Louis’s frown deepened. “He came to see me two months ago, after the night we left Chicago, if I’m not mistaken. He gave me his resignation letter, telling me he wanted to quit.”

Zayn’s mind whirled, as he tried to recall the night where he had a show in Chicago. It was then he realized that it was the same night where he had found out that Niall had cried over the hate that he received, the night where Zayn realized that as carefree as Niall appeared to be, he could break too. And apparently Zayn had put him down as well by being such a prick. 

“Zayn, are you listening?” Louis asked, snapping his fingers in front of Zayn’s face and Zayn swatted his hand away. 

“Yeah, I am.” Zayn said, rubbing his hands over his face. Suddenly he felt so lost. He didn’t know that Niall had wanted to quit. And Niall didn’t even tell him, for God’s sake. 

Zayn felt a dip near his spot on the bed and he glanced up to look at Louis’s worried face. Louis’s laptop had been put aside and he was sitting cross leg besides Zayn, giving his full attention. “Zayn, is there something that I should know?” 

“About what?” 

“About you and Niall.” Louis pointed out. 

Zayn sighed deeply. “What do you want to know?”

Louis shrugged slightly, before started to speak up. “I know you like him.” 

“Louis-“

“No, don’t deny it, Zayn. I _know_ you,” Louis said, cutting Zayn off. “And I thought I knew Niall too. I was positive he felt the same way too. Sometimes I noticed the way he was looking at you, and he thought he was sneaky, but I saw it,” Louis said, before he continued. “I thought he changed his mind, you know? Cause he did ask me to cancel the ticket and retracted his resign letter. But somehow, last night, he came to see me.” 

Zayn stared at Louis confusingly. “He came to see you? Why?” 

Louis shook his head. “I don’t know,” he told Zayn. “But he was so adamant to quit and wanted to go back to Ireland, saying that he was no longer interested of being a stylist. I wasn’t sure what happened so I just agreed with him, plus he looked so upset already. I didn’t want to ask too much question.”

Zayn sighed, still feeling lost and confused. “Had I done something?” He wondered out loud. 

“It’s not my place to answer that question, Zayn. You should probably ask him personally.” Louis said, squeezing Zayn’s shoulder gently. “You know I will support whatever you want to do, right? Whoever you love? And Niall is a nice guy, I know you wouldn’t want to let him go.” 

Zayn blinked the tears out of his eyes, too touched by Louis’s words and support, and he quickly pulled Louis into a hug. “Thanks Lou, you’re a great friend.” 

Louis chuckled, thumping Zayn’s back lightly. “Don’t go sap on me, idiot,” Louis said, “there’s still time for you to go to the airport.” 

 

*********

 

For someone who was always late, Zayn mentally congratulated himself when he managed to make it to the airport as soon as he could. His eyes frantically reading the big screen, and he let out a relief sigh when he found the number of the gate. 

He jogged his way, praying silently on his way that he would catch Niall before he boarded. Zayn’s eyes glanced around when he reached the waiting room, and from the long line of the queue, he finally spotted Niall’s green backpack and Zayn strode towards the line. 

“Niall!” He called out, ignoring some of the stares that he got from the other people. He didn’t care, all he wanted was to reach Niall. 

Niall turned around, eyes widened when he saw Zayn. 

“Can I talk to you?” Zayn asked breathlessly, “alone?” 

Niall glanced between the line and Zayn, contemplating his decision, but Zayn quickly grabbed his arm, bringing Niall towards the secluded corner not far from the gate. 

“What are you doing here? How do you know I’m here?” Niall asked confusingly.

Zayn stared at Niall, “don’t quit,” he blurted out. “I’d still need you around, Niall. Who would be my stylist if you’re gone?” 

Niall huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, staring back at Zayn. “Look, you told me I was suck, okay? I don’t think I’d fit enough to be your stylist anymore. Plus, Caroline will be back next week, there’s no reason for me to stay any longer.”

Zayn shook his head. “Listen, I was a prick, okay? I didn’t mean any of that. Plus it seemed like a long time ago.” 

“It was only a couple of months ago,” Niall pointed out. “And you _did_ mean it, Zayn.” 

Zayn sighed. “Well, if that’s the case, I’m sorry, okay? Please, stay here. Don’t go back to Ireland. You have so much potential, it’d be such a shame for you to let it go.” 

Niall stared at him, searching for his eyes and Zayn stared back, showing the other guy that he was serious. 

“Is this because you saw me crying in the backstage room that day?” Niall blurted out and Zayn’s eyes widened. 

“What? No!” Zayn said quickly, shaking his head. 

Niall sighed. “I heard you Zayn. I knew you were standing by that door much earlier than Liam. And I know you were treating me so well these past few weeks because you feel bad. If this _talking_ thing is because you pity me, then you can fuck off. I would rather go back to Ireland, instead of being pitied.” 

Zayn shook his head, sighing in frustration. “Don’t you get it? I like you.”

Niall snorted. “No, you don’t.” 

“Yes, I do.” Zayn said firmly. “I’m sorry I was such a prick earlier when we wet. But I’ve changed, okay? _You_ made me change, _you_ made me a better person. Can’t you see it?” 

Niall fell into silence, staring right into Zayn’s eyes, before he dropped his gaze, staring at the ground and sighed. “I don’t know Zayn,” he mumbled. “It’s difficult.”

Zayn grabbed Niall’s shoulder, pulling him closer. “What is difficult?” 

Niall glanced up to look at Zayn again. “You tell me? You’re the famous one, I’m only the intern. An intern who sucks nonetheless. I’m nobody compared to you.”

“Niall-“

Niall shook his head, cutting Zayn off, “I think I can blame you for that. You said it yourself the other day.”

“Niall, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” Zayn urged firmly. 

Niall nodded. “I know,” he paused, before shrugging slightly. “But it got me thinking, Zayn,” he said. “You’re famous now, you’re getting bigger and going places, while I’m getting nowhere as successful as I hope. I’m getting suckier at my job instead. And don’t you tell me I’m not, because I know I am. I’ve read enough comments to know that I am.”

“Niall, please, I thought you didn’t care about all of those negative comments.” Zayn pleaded, tightening his grip on Niall’s shoulder. “You can’t listen to them. You can’t listen to _me._ You’re Niall, who’s carefree, independent and takes no bullshit from anyone, not even _me._ Remember?”

Niall smiled sadly at Zayn, shaking his head. “I’m only human, Zayn. I have my limit too.” 

Zayn nodded, “that, we can work on, okay? Please, Niall, just, don’t leave.” 

“I don’t know what to think, Zayn.” Niall said, sighing again. “This is all out of sudden. How come you suddenly _like_ me? Didn’t you hate me before?” 

Zayn shook his head. “Let me explain. I didn’t hate you.”

Niall raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. 

“No, I mean-”

_”This is the final boarding call for flight 326A to Dublin. All passengers please proceed to Gate 3 immediately._

Zayn groaned in frustration as the announcement was cutting his time to talk to Niall, “Urgh, can you just skip this flight? I need to explain, _we_ need to talk about this,” Zayn pleaded. 

Niall smiled slightly at Zayn, staring at Zayn like he was crazy. “I paid for the tickets Zayn.”

“Let me pay for the next flight? Please? I can even use my private jet if you want to.”

Niall’s smile dropped. “See, this is what I’m talking about,” he said, hand gripping on the sling of his backpack tightly. “I don’t need your pity. And I certainly don’t need your money.” 

Zayn shook his head. “No, I didn’t mean it like that.” 

“I can’t do this right now, Zayn.” Niall said, already shaking his head and backing away from Zayn, gently removing Zayn’s grip on his shoulder. “Good luck on your future career,” Niall wished, “bye, Zayn,” he added before turning away and left Zayn alone. 

 

**********

 

Zayn rang the doorbell, shifting his feet nervously, as he waited for the door to open. He contemplated on whether he wanted to turn around and leave, or just waited until the door opened, and continued with his intention. 

His contemplation was cut short when suddenly the door was opened, and Niall was standing in front of him, gasping in surprise. 

“Zayn? What are you doing here?” 

“Surprise,” Zayn blurted out, smiling slightly, but Niall didn’t smile back, and just stared at Zayn blankly. 

Zayn sighed. “I come here to visit you, is that okay?” 

Niall blinked his eyes, shaking his head. “It’s not okay. What the hell are you thinking coming to Ireland out of the blue, and don’t you have any show?” 

Zayn shook his head. “Nah, the next show would be in two days, so I have some time off, plus, I’m coming here not out of the blue. I come here to see you, to talk to you.” 

“Zayn,” it was Niall turned to sigh, rubbing his hands over his face, and Zayn felt his spirit dropped a bit, so he couldn’t blame himself when he was slightly surprised when Niall suddenly closed the door, and standing in front of him, “let’s talk at the park.” 

The park wasn’t far enough from Niall’s house, and Zayn couldn’t help to glance around as they walked side by side. A part of his mind couldn’t accept the fact that Niall was coming from a small town, because to him, Niall was so much bigger than the town. He had so much potential to achieve more than he could, and that was one of the reasons why Zayn couldn’t let him go. He won’t let Niall throwing away his future just because of him. 

“So, talk.” Niall said once they took their seats on one of the benches at the park. “What made you think it was alright to just fly here?” 

Zayn stared at Niall, shrugging slightly. “I didn’t think. I just _know_ that I have to come here,” he told Niall. “Although, I must admit that Louis had also smacked my head and calling me an idiot for not trying hard enough at the airport the last I saw you.” 

Niall chuckled slightly, shaking his head. “Louis and his bluntness,” he muttered. 

Zayn smiled slightly, nodding. “Yeah, that’s Louis for you,” he said, before clearing his throat and started to speak up again. “Look, Niall, I told you this the other day, but I need you to hear it again, I like you, okay? I really _really_ like you.” 

Zayn took Niall’s silent as his permission to continue. “I’m sorry I didn’t treat you right before. Louis was right, I was an idiot. You’re so great at your work, trust me, you have so much potential.” 

“Zayn, please, don’t lie-“ 

“I’m not,” Zayn insisted, shaking his head firmly. “I’m not lying, Niall. I was being mean to you, not because of your work, it was just because-“ 

Niall stared at Zayn, “because of what?” he asked, demanding for answer. 

“I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but I used to be engaged with this girl. And you know, she kinda broke my heart.” 

Niall raised his eyebrows. “What’s this have got to do with me?” 

Zayn sighed heavily. “You reminded me so much of her when I first saw you. Which sound stupid now that I said it out loud.” 

“I don’t understand,” Niall said, eyebrows scrunched in confusion and Zayn couldn’t help but reaching his hand to smooth the line. He hated seeing Niall other than being smiley and happy. 

“I don’t know, probably because your feature and bubbly personality reminded me of her, but I was totally wrong, because you are so much better than her. In fact, besides those similarities, you’re completely a different person than I thought that you would be,” Zayn told Niall. “Remember when you cooked for my birthday? I was genuinely touched, I even gushed it to my mother. I thought of getting to know you better after that, because you seemed nice, but then I realized my ex-fiancee used to do the same thing too, and look what happened.” 

“If you come here just to tell me this, then I think you’d better leave, Zayn,” Niall said suddenly, eyes hardened as he glared at Zayn. 

Zayn nodded understandingly. “I know you’d probably mad. But I thought I need to make it clear to you on why I had treated you bad for the first few months,” he told Niall, before he braved himself to reach for Niall’s hands, holding those hands gently. 

“As time goes, I realize how you’re your own person, and I was stupid, so stupid for being blinded by the past that I missed those few months to get to know you, but when I did, when we did become close, along the way, I’m falling for you, for Niall James Horan, no one else, just you.” Zayn said sincerely. “I’m falling for Niall who’s well organized, who’s attentive about his job, who knows more about his job more than I give him credit for. I’m falling for Niall who’s caring, who’s always putting anyone’s happiness first.” 

“Zayn, you don’t have to do this,” Niall said, but he didn’t pull his hands away from Zayn’s, and Zayn took it as a positive sign. 

“Yes, I do. I really need to do this,” Zayn said firmly. “I’ve taken you for granted, and I don’t want to no more,” he told Niall. “I want you to give me a chance to try again, I want you to let me know if you’re also interested in this, whatever the thing that we have. I want your answer, just a simple yes or no. And if you think that I don’t have a slightest chance, then at least I can leave with a closure.” 

They both stared at each other’s eyes, and for once, Zayn couldn’t really read on what was Niall thinking at the moment. His heart was beating rapidly against his chest, suddenly feeling nervous after all of his adrenaline ran out. Niall dropped his gaze first, silently pulling back his hand from Zayn’s grip and Zayn felt his heart drop. His throat felt constricted, and he couldn’t help but smile shakily at Niall, before he started to stand up, planning on leaving, because what else could he say? Niall definitely didn’t want him around. 

Zayn was about to walk away when suddenly he felt his hand was being tugged and he turned around, glancing down only to watch Niall, and wait, was Niall smiling at him? 

“I’m interested,” Niall said shyly, and his cheeks went to different shades of red as he looked at Zayn. “I’m interested, Zayn,” Niall repeated, “at least I’m 50 percent interested at the moment, based on my pros and cons spreadsheet about dating Zayn Malik, but it’s flexible, so the percentage might increase as the time goes by.” 

Zayn’s face broke into a big smile, “that’s good enough for me.” 

 

**********

 

_**..3 years later..** _

 

“I don’t understand why I need to wear this,” Niall mumbled under his breath as he stood in front of the mirror. 

Zayn laughed, shaking his head before he moved to stand in front of Niall. “Because tonight is your big night, and you’ll have to give your speech, so you need to look dashing out there, on stage,” Zayn said, hands started moving to knot the tie that was hanging loose around Niall’s collar shirt. 

Niall sighed, staring at Zayn with a pouty lip, “I’m supposed to be your stylist, not the other way around.” 

Zayn laughed, “you quit, remember?” He said, still folding up the other end of Niall’s tie. “Plus, now you’re one of the demanded stylist out there, I can’t afford to pay you to work for me anymore.”

Niall rolled his eyes, punching Zayn’s shoulder lightly, and Zayn’s heart warmth as he saw how bashful Niall looked at the moment. Even after all his achievement, Niall remained humble about it and it made Zayn loved him more. 

“Do you remember when you were mad at me, when I was whining about not wearing a tie to the charity event?” 

Niall nodded, “yeah, why?” 

Zayn shrugged, grinning widely, “you were so hot, but of course I didn’t tell you at that time,” he told Niall. 

“Yeah, cause you hated me back then, right?” Niall joked and Zayn laughed loudly. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, before he finished the last knot, and back away slightly, checking out Niall from head to toe. “Now, that looks better. You look so handsome.” 

And as Zayn expected, of course Niall blushed, “shut up,” he grumbled. 

Zayn stepped closer towards Niall, pulling his boyfriend into a kiss, “you know, there’s a lot of thing that I want to do to you, seeing you in that tie. I feel like I want to reward you for finally agree to wear it.” 

Niall sighed airily against Zayn’s mouth. “Really? So, if I wear this this, what is my reward?”

Zayn grinned mischievously, “oh, you don’t even want to know,” he told Niall, “I bet you won’t be able to get out of the bed for a week after your _reward._ ” 

Niall laughed, pulling away from the kiss, before he mocked a salute towards Zayn, “Okay, sir!” 

“I told you not to call me sir!” Zayn pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Niall rolled his eyes, and Zayn made exaggerate pouty lips when Niall came closer towards him. Niall laughed, knowing Zayn’s antics, before he started to kiss Zayn, pressing their lips together with a soft hum, “I love you.” 

Zayn’s face broke into a happy grin, his hands cupping Niall’s face, pulling him closer, “I love you too,” he breathed before deepening the kiss.


End file.
